Our March eBulletin is out

WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?

UK Justice Policy Review 
The third volume of our annual publication, UK Justice Policy Review (UKJPR) was released this month. Combining analysis of the main developments with key data on spending, staffing and numbers of people going through the criminal justice system, UKJPR offers an accessible overview of UK-wide developments.

Our analysis of Ministry of Justice data shows that contracts for prison and probation work are dominated by a small number of multinationals and large voluntary sector organisations. G4S and Serco, the two companies accused of overcharging on electronic monitoring contracts, were paid nearly £600 million by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) for prison and probation-related work between May 2010 and October 2012: some 40 per cent of the £1.5 billion spent by NOMS during this period. This edition of UKJPR also has a special focus on third sector involvement in criminal justice outsourcing. 

Our Director Richard Garside wrote about UKJPR for Our Kingdom. You can also watch him on YouTube summarising the key findings. The publication also received lots of positive attention on Twitter. 

Electronic monitoring - dangerous if left to own devices?
The March issue of Criminal Justice Matters is out now with a themed section on electronic monitoring (EM), edited Professor Mike Nellis. The articles take a critical look at the use of EM in the UK and abroad and a free access introduction from Mike can be viewed here. Ella Holdsworth and Anthea Hucklesby write on gender divisions in the use of EM.  In the topical issues section, Julie T Davies writes on the silencing of whistle-blowers and Elaine Campbell tackles questions of democracy and policing in the context of Police and Crime Commissioners. Keith Hayward and Roger Matthews offer a personal tribute to Jock Young. 

Challenging justice
We received a fantastic response to our 'Justice Matters' challenge. We invited to people to think about a criminal justice practice, policy or institution to abolish or abstain from. Professor Tim Hope called for the abolition of the uniformed police service and introduction of a 'civil harm response' service. This drew a mixed reaction on Twitter. Elsewhere, and coincidentally, Owen Jones called for the abolition of the Met police in The Guardian, saying that the 'problem isn't bad apples, it's the whole barrel'. Professor Ian Loader of Oxford University has also written for Left Foot Forward on the subject, arguing that it is the 'over-investment' in the idea of a policing solution to crime that prevents the police from escaping their permanent crisis.

John Moore took the challenge and called for resistance to the 'treacherous temptations of criminal justice', arguing against using criminal justice to solve social problems. 

Others also called for abstinence in other areas, including;  

• Prof Ben Bowling on suspicionless stop-searches;
• Tracey McMahon on short term prison sentences and community payback;
• Chris Stanley on youth courts;
• Andria E-Mordaunt on criminalising drug users;
• Robert Shaw on the psychological services.

You can read them all here. Thank you to everyone who has taken part so far - read more and get involved here.

Challenging the race/gang nexus
Early in the month Patrick Williams of Manchester Metropolitan University gave a talk on 'Becoming the 'other': challenging the race/gang nexus' to a packed room of activists, academics, practitioners and policy makers. We also heard from respondent Adam Elliot-Cooper. Drawing on research commissioned by North West England local authority Crime Reduction Partnerships, Patrick argued that the use of the ‘gang’ label wrongly justifies a stark over-policing of Black communities.Thank you to everyone who attended and we look forward to publishing written summaries and the powerpoint slides on our website very soon. In the meantime, you can see a Storify of the event and you might want to check out two publications from our archives that relate to the discussions that took place: Ethnicity, harm and crime and Policy, purpose and pragmatism: dilemmas for organisations working with young black people affected by crime.

Justice Matters
Our Justice Matters for Women event was well attended by activists, practitioners, campaigners and women who have direct experience of the issues at hand. Rebecca Roberts and Helen Mills of the Centre, and Laurel Townhead of Women in Prison led the discussion, highlighting the way in which criminal justice responses are privileged in the policy and political debate. Participants considered the claim that we need to look beyond criminal justice responses and take seriously questions of prevention. There was a lively discussion and suggestions of different ways of promoting solutions that benefit women rather than criminal justice. We will be updating our comment pages shortly, but in the meantime, you can read more about the Justice Matters for women project here.

We also held an event for those interested in the broader objectives of the Justice Matters initiative. You can read what our Deputy Director Will McMahon said here. 

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS

Chief Inspector blasts conditions in Feltham
In the March issue of Criminal Justice Matters magazine, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick has described how conditions in Feltham Young Offenders Institution have 'deteriorated markedly' and the prison 'as a whole was an unacceptably violent place'. He describes levels of violence witnessed by inspectors as 'shocking'. The article is available to download free of charge. 

Mitigating the harms of criminal justice
As part of our Justice Matters for Women initiative, Laurel Townhead, Policy and Campaigns Manager at Women in Prison, has written a comment piece highlighting the need to provide independent support for women in order to mitigate the harm that the criminal justice system causes. This should include a transformation in the provision of women's services in order to address the abuse, trauma and inequality women experience.

Beyond trauma
The world's leading expert on trauma in custody, Dr Stephanie Covington, is currently in Britain running a series of events to stimulate a change in how we treat female survivors of trauma in custody and in the community. Our Works for Freedom website has been supporting the visit. You can see Lady Edwina Grosvenor's comment piece arguing for the need for action and Stephanie Covington discussing her work and motivations in this short video, both available on the Works for Freedom website. You can also find out about how to book your place to hear Stephanie speak at a special event in London on 7th April.

Policing a multicultural society in the 21st century
Mark Blake of BTEG, in a comment piece on our website, argues that in order to achieve the cultural shift of getting more people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds into the police force, there needs to be reform of stop and search powers as well as a move away from enforcement-driven policing.

Circles of Support and Accountability
Helen Drewery, former trustee of Circles UK, has written a comment piece for the Works for Freedom website explaining the work of Circles of Support and Accountability: a community-based initiative run by volunteers working with people convicted of sexual offences.

In memory of Jock Young
Professor Roger Matthews pens a tribute to the late criminologist, Jock Young. Read it here on the Centre's website.

EVENTFUL

Just images?
Professor Eamonn Carrabine of the University of Essex will be talking about the power of images in shaping our understanding of harm, suffering and violence on Monday 28 April 2014. Eamonn's talk will cover the rich history of crime and harm photography and will be illustrated by images. It is based on his Radzinowicz Memorial Prize winning article in the British Journal of Criminology. For more information and to register, please go to the events page.

Conference: How violent is Britain?
Book your place to hear a stellar line up of speakers discuss how state, institutional and corporate violence should be tackled. Held at the University of Liverpool on Friday 16 May 2014, it's a bargain at £20 for waged and £5 for low income delegates. Book your place now to avoid disappointment.

HAVE YOU SEEN?

Book ban
Changes to the Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) scheme, brought in last November by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, has caused a furore this month. The Reclaim Justice Network's briefing on IEP published earlier this year argued that the changes will create a 'perfect storm' for disruption, violence and harm in prisons. Francis Crook's article on the Politics.co.uk website drew attention to how the changes have restricted the access to books. It went viral on Twitter and journalists, authors, and many members of the public condemned the reform. Tanya Gold of The Guardian condemned the ban, calling it an 'abysmal policy'. In The Independent, author Phillip Pullman blasted the ban as a 'vindictive act', while Grace Dent called it 'chilling'. The story even went as far afield as the LA Times. You can see Steve Bell's cartoon on the subject here. A petition emerged from Mary Sweeney on the Change.org website calling for Grayling to rethink the policy. You can see Grayling's latest (somewhat confused) contribution to this whole debacle in his open letter to Carol Ann Duffy. 

Legal high deaths over-estimated
Professor David Nutt, Chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, has claimed that the number of deaths due to so-called legal highs has been misrepresented.

Government failing to manage outsourcing contracts
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has claimed that the government is failing to manage contracts with a host of private companies delivering a range of services to departments and members of the public. This comes after reports that the government has appointed a senior 'minder' from business to oversee G4S due to allegations of overcharging in relation to its electronic monitoring contracts. Elsewhere, the Department for Work and Pensions announced the cancellation of the Atos Work Capability Assessment contract.

Newsround
Did you know that we regularly add news items to our website? We can't always fit them all in here, so check out our news pages for the stories that caught our eye this month - including; taser stats; ineffective police responses to domestic violence; crime stats whistleblower resignation; and government guarantees that private prisons will not face closures.

NUMBERS OF THE MONTH

1/3 - of women in the European Union have experienced sexual and physical violence, according to a report from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. HM Inspectorate of Constabulary also released a critical report this month which claims that victims of domestic violence faced a 'lottery' in the way in which they were treated.

£108.9 million - the amount that G4S has agreed to repay after overcharging the government for electronic monitoring contracts, announced a day after it was reported that they could still face criminal prosecution.

16,000 - the number of suspected crime incidents that were wiped from records by Paris police in 2011, with a further 13,000 reported to have been wiped in 2012. These new claims come a year after reports that almost 130,000 crime incidents had 'disappeared' nationally in France between 2007 and 2012.

VIDEO OF THE MONTH

Students from the University of Blackburn College have produced a short film looking at social harm and crime, using resources produced by the Centre. We are always excited to see creative ways of tackling critical academic questions - so please do keep 'em coming. 

PARROT OF THE MONTH

Make of this what you will...

This bulletin was compiled and edited by Jordan Beaumont and Rebecca Roberts.

For comments and feedback email rebecca.roberts@crimeandjustice.org.uk.